On 5/6/2017 11:58 PM, Cousin Ricky wrote:
> On 2017-05-06 06:04 AM (-4), Stephen wrote:
>> The best being, when I was working in Nigeria for Total.
>> "I'm glad we were colonised by the English not the French."
>> Quite a few layers of meaning, there. :)
>
> This reminds me of what I was told about Botswana while I was visiting
> South Africa.  During the 19th century, King Khama III of Botawana saw
> all the territory around him being taken by Cecil Rhodes, and he did not
> like what he was seeing.  So he appealed directly to the British crown
> to become a British protectorate.  (Wikipedia tells a different story,
> but the gist is the same.)  The strategy seems to have worked, as
> Botswana has avoided the strife that plagued much of southern Africa
> during the 20th century.
>

I've heard that story. It was in the form of a parable.
"How the Plover bird hid from the hawk in the mouth of the crocodile."

Which reminds me. If you have not read them, try and get a copy of 
Alexander McCall Smith's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency".
It is set in Botswana and McCall Smith is obviously in love with the 
people.
He has an unique stile, strangely uplifting.


> To complete the irony, after the conclusion of its savage civil war,
> Mozambique, which had never been a British colony, joined the British
> Commonwealth!

It's funny that when you look at a map at that area. Zimbabwe is not in 
the Commonwealth of Nations. ;)
(Just getting a dig into Mugabe and the ZANU party. :) )

>
> We in the U.S. Virgin Islands just celebrated the 100th anniversary of
> the sale of the Danish West Indies to the USA.  Barely asked among the
> "important" people was the obvious question: why is being a colony of
> the USA cause for celebration over being a colony of Denmark?
>

The literal answer is because you are Americans. But I know what you mean.
Actually my personal opinion is that you would have been better off with 
the Danes. I worked on a Danish Oil Exploration rig for about six 
months. I really liked the people I met there. Importantly their sense 
of humour is similar to ours. But on the other hand. Could you trust 
them to keep you? The gave away the Shetland Islands to the King of 
Scotland (No, not Idi Amin) Because the then King of Denmark was too 
poor to buy his sister a weeding present.


> One possible answer would be constitutional protections--except that
> such protections don't automatically apply to the territories.  While
> the U.S. Constitution mandates republican governments for the states,
> territorial sovereignty is granted directly to Congress, and application
> constitutional rights is determined by court cases, most importantly the
> Insular Cases.  Our democratic institutions in the islands and our very
> USA citizenship are at the mercy of Congress (regardless of what
> comforting lies Puerto Rican politicians tell themselves).
>

It is good to hear these opinions. It explains things from a grass roots 
view.


> Then there is the little fact that many USAmericans do not want to face:
>   that, in general, the Danish are happier and live better than
> Americans do.  Oh yeah, and the Virgin Islands have totally fallen
> through the considerable cracks in the Affordable Care Act (not that I
> want it repealed or anything).
>

No, no. I understand that. ;)

> One constitutional protection that recently seems to have put us in a
> better position is equal protection under law prescribed by the 14th
> Amendment.  In 2015, our local judiciary agreed that Obergefell v.
> Hodges applied to the Virgin Islands, thus legalizing gay marriage here.
>   In Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the issue was devolved, meaning
> that if we were still under Danish rule, the issue would have been left
> to our homophobic legislature.  It is not lost on me that in this one
> case, colonialism resulted in greater rights for us.
>

Sorry, lost me a bit there. Whose legislature. the US government's or 
your island's?

I was taken aback when I found out how much homophobia was rife in Jamaica.

> Yet that very issue is still being debated in American Samoa, the one
> territory whose residents Congress has not seen fit to grant USA
> citizenship.
>

Did you know that the Isle of Man, one of the British Isles, is not part 
of either the UK or the Republic of Ireland? It is a Crown Dependency. 
They do okay out of it. Low tax and the TT races. :)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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